Blade-vending machine.



A. H. DU GRENIER & J. H. MCPHERSON.

BLADE VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26, I916. ZMJSLMS. Patented June 26, 1917.

4SHEETS-SHEET I.

Winesa. ,Zi'JWQ JZ M BLADE VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26. 1916.

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BLADE VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.26.19 |6.

Patented June 26, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. H. DU GRENIERN J. H. MCPHERSON.

BLADE VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26. 1916.

1 ,Q8 1 2%3v Patented June 26, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

UNTTED $TATE PATEN T @FFTGE.

ARTHUR H. DU GRENIER AND JAMES H. IVIoPHJERSON, OF HAVERHILL,MASSACHUSETTS.

BLADE-VENDING MACHIN E.

Application filed April 26, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR H. DU GRENIER, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, and JAMES H. McPHERsoN, a citizen of the United States,both residing at Havel-hill, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Blade-Vending Machines,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to check or coincontrolled vending machines, andmore particularly to a machine designed to be employed in shoefactories, to vend shoecutters knife blades.

Inasmuch as various makes and styles of shoe-cutters blades areemployed, it is practically necessary that a machine for vending sucharticles be arranged to deliver to the purchaser any one of a number ofdifierent kinds of blades, in practice, about eight different varietiesbeing sold.

The object of our invention is to produce a form of vending machinewhich is primarily adapted to vend various styles and forms ofshoe-cutters blades, although it may be employed for vending a varietyof other articles of merchandise, and which is of simple and durableconstruction, and which answers all of the well-known requirements ofmachines of this character.

We accomplish these objects by the means shown in the accompanyingdrawing, in which;

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively front and side elevations of a vendingmachine embodying our invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken at the line a(l of Fig. 5.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the machine.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View taken at the line 717) of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the ejectormechanism taken from the left-handside of the machine.

Fig. 7 is a similar view taken from the right-hand side of the machine.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing the parts in a differentposition.

Fig. 9 is a detail view partly in section at the line cc of Fig. 8,

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented June 265, 11%11"? Serial No. 93,790.

Fig. 10 is a detail view of the coin-testing device.

Figs. 11, 12, and 13 are detail views of the coin-testing and rejectingmechanism, showing the parts in different positions.

v Fig. 1 1 is a detail view of the article to be vended.

As shown in the drawing, the casing 1, which contains all of theoperative parts of the machine, is hinged to a back-board 2, adapted tobe secured to the wall, said casing being locked in position against thebackboard by means of a padlock 3, or other suitable means, so that thewhole casing may be swung awayfrom the wall, as indicated in Fig. 4, toexpose the mechanism for the purpose of refilling, and to permit the removal of coins therefrom.

For the purpose of indicating the different forms of blades which themachine is to vend, a dial plate 4 is provided on the face of thecasing, in the center of which a crank 5 is mounted on a central shaft6, and about which, openings 1 are arranged, provision being made forthe insertion of cards, on which, characters, indicating thedifferentkinds of blades to be vended, may be written, in the rear ofsaid openings, so that the characters will be visible. The crank 5 isprovided with a handle 7, which is mounted on a spring-pressed pin,which slides in the handle to engage any one of a series of apertures 1*on the dial, disposed adjacent the indicating openings 4 Within thecasing, a carrier 8 is mounted on the shaft 6, to rotate therewith, andcom prises a series of radially-extending arms 8 oneach of which acasing orcompartment 9 s removably secured, said compartments belngarranged approximately radially with relation to the axis of the shaft6, and equally spaced apart, with the bottoms thereof in the periphery.of a cylinder having its axis coincident with the axis of shaft 6.

As the articles to be vended are not of convenient form to behandled bya machine of this character, each blade w is mounted on a flat, oblongstrip of wood y, and secured at one side thereof by strips of paper 2,so that it may be readily removed, as in- 10(1) dicated in Fig. 14..Each compartment 9 is shaped, in transverse section, to receive thewooden strips y, so that a stack of said strips, with the bladesattached thereto, may be placed in each compartment of the carrier, andmay rest on the bottom 9 thereof,

as indicated in Figs. 5 and 8.

A weighted follower 10, of approximately the same shape as thewoodenstrips 3 is provided in each compartment, said follower being providedwith a pair of end lugs 10", and a middle lug 10*, which depend from theouter or under side thereof, to the same extent, the middle lug beingextended laterally from the follower, as indicated in Fig. 9, andinclined on its under side, for .a purpose to be hereafter explained. Alongitudinal "groove 10 is provided on the inner side'of the follower,and a pair of springactuated levers 12 are mounted on pivots 13,

at opposite ends of each compartment 9, said pivots being locatedadjacent the upper or inner ends of said levers, so that a pair of longarms are provided, which extend crosswise of each other, and rest attheir ends in thegroove 10 of the follower, while the short arms thereofare connected by a spring 14, which acts to draw them together, and

thus force the ends of the long arms, and

therefore the follower which they engage, radially outward, or towardthe bottom of the compartment. Each spring 14 is of sufficient strengthto overcome the gravity of the follower and of a stack of blades andholders ofany height which a compartment may contain, so that the stackwill be held in position in all positions of the carrier, and when thelast blade has been removed from a compartment, the follower thereinwill be held against the bottom thereof. The relative arrangement of thecrank 5 in the compartments 9 is such that, when the drank is swung toany one of the positions in which it is adapted to be locked, thecarrier will be rotated so as to bring the corresponding compartmentinto the vertical position directly beneath the axis of the shaft 6, inwhich position each compartment must be held, in

- order that the ejecting mechanism, hereafter described, may operate tomove the articles therefrom. The bottom 9 of each compartment hastransverse slots 9 and 9 formed therein, which extend entirely acrossthe same and correspond in position to the position of the lugs 10 and10 of the follower, so that, when a compartment is empty, said lugs willextend through said slots, beyond.

the bottom. The-end 111' s 1O have no important function, other t an toprovide engaging 'means for the stack at the ends of the followers,which are level with the middle lug 10". A discharge slot 9 is alsoprovided in one side of each compartment next the bottom 9 thereofthe'width of said slot being slightly greater than the thickness of i ablade and holder.

The form of ejecting mechanism which is employed in this connectioncomprises a pair of' arms 16 which are mounted on a shaft 17 supportedin fixed lugs, said arms each having a dog 18 pivoted on the end thereofand arranged to pass through the slots 9", in the bottom of eachcompartment, when in ejecting position, and to engage the bottom articleof a stack, to slide the same from beneath it, through the dischargeslot '9, springs 19 being connected to each' dog, which permit them toswing downward on the return movement, and to return them to operativeposition. A link 20 is connected, at one end, by a universal joint, tothe arms 16, and at the other end by a similar joint,

direction, and causing the arms 16'to swing from right to left, so as toeject the article.

In order that the carrier may be positively locked, while the ejectingmechanism is being operated, a finger26 is pivotally mounted on the arm22, and is arranged to extend upwardly, in position to enter a notch 8",formed in the peripheral portion of each arm' 8 of the carrier, to lockthe latter against rotation.

The main shaft 28 of the ejector mechanism is mounted in the casingbeneath the shaft 24, and extends outside the casing to receive anactuating handle 29. A flat metal operating plate 30 is rigidly mountedon the shaft 28, to swing in a plane' at right angles thereto, and isprovided with an arcshap'ed peripheral portion, on which a seriesfinished before the pawl 32 will permit the parts to be returned toinitial position. The

plate 30 is arranged to swing between a pair of flat partitions 36, 38,in close proximity thereto, and also in the plane of acoin-entrance-slot 1 which is formed in the front of the casing, saidslot being of the same size as the coin, in connection with which themachine is designed to operate, and the width of the space between saidpartitions bein sufficient to permit thev coin tov pass readilytherebetween. Said plate 30 is further provided with ashoulder 30",which extends adjacent the inner side of the casing, and, in the normalposition of said plate, is held adjacent the upper end of the of theplate 30, said partition'actingto form the bottom of a coin-receivingreceptacle, and also the inner side of a .passage 33 for rejected coins,the upper end of which is practically continuous with the lowerend ofthe coin entrance passage and the lower end of which opens to a cup 34,into which a coin, falling down said passage, 33, will be discharged.That is, unlessintercepted, a coin inserted in the slot 1 willimmediately fall into the cup 34. I

Coin-intercepting means are, however, provided. for directing the coininto the receptacle formed by partition 31, said means comprising asupport 40, which is suspended on a pivot 41, mounted in a lug 36*, onpartition 36, to swing transversely of the plate 30, and on which acoin-tester42 is supported by a pivot 43 in a position at right anglesthereto, so that it extends di rectly across the coin entrance passagebetween the partitions 36 and 38, directly beneath the lower end of thearc-shaped portion 30 of the plate 30, as shown inFig. 11..

A. finger portion 30 is formed on'plate30, the outer sideof saidarc-shaped portion 30 extending thereon and said finger portionterminating at a distance from the upper surface of the coin tester 42,slightly less than the diameter of the coin, which the machine isdesigned to receive, and at a ,point to one side of the pivot 43, sothat, under normal conditions, when the coin falls down the entranceslot, it will be intercepted by the coin tester 42, and will roll alongon the surface, past the pivot thereof, until it is intercepted by thefinger portion 30 ,in the dotted positionindicated in Fig. 5

and if the disk which has been inserted is of less weight than that ofthe standard coin, it will lodge at that point, but if it is of standardweight, it will overbalance the opposite end of the tester 42, and, asthe latter tilts down, it will be permitted to pass beneath the finger30 into operative relation with the article-ejecting operatingmechanism.- 7 i The mechanism directly cotiperating with the coinconsists-of an arm 45 rigidly mounted on the shaft 24 and having its end45 concaved to receive the coin, and a finger on the plate 30 having acorrespondingly concaved end 30". The concaved end of the arm 45 isnormally held in position to receive the coin, as it is'discharged fromthe toin tester 42, and the coin is retained there- --in by a fixedfinger 46, which is mounted on the partition 31 and extends upwardlytherefrom, between the partitions 36 and 38, to a point beneath the cointester 42, at which point the coin-receiving passage branches from thecoin-entrance passage. A magnet'47 isprovided in the partition 38 whichwill retain a magnetic slug falling on the tester 42. A lug 40 projectsfromthe inner side of the support 40, into the path of movement of thefinger 30 so that when the plate 30; is swung forwardly and downwardly,it will engage said lug 40 and swing its support 40-aside so as towithdraw the coin tester 42 from the coin passage and open the coinentrance passage to the rejecting passage, as shown in Fig. 12. A lug 4Oon said support acts to hold it in its normal position of Fig. 11.

An arm 52 is pivoted, at one end, on the casing and a roll 54 isrotatably mounted on the free end thereof, said roll having a groovedperiphery and being arranged in the plane of the ath of movement of themiddle lug 10 of the followers, so that when a compartment becomesempty, and the follower 10 therein therefore rests on the bottomthereof, the lug 1O on the follower will pass into the peripheral groovepended from the end of the arm 52 and extends downward in position toengage one arm 56 of a lever, which 1s pivotally supported on partition36, the other arm 57 of which depends in position to engage the innerside of support 40, the arrangement being such that the rod is normallysupported in contact with arm 56, but wlthout substantial pressurethereon, so that when the rod is depressed, through the depression ofthe roll 54, bv a follower 10, it will force down the arm 56, causingthe arm 57 to swing outward against the support 4t), and force thelatter aside, as shown in Fig. 13,

withdrawing the coin tester 42 from the coin-entrance passage andopening communication between said passage and the coin-rejectingpassage, as already described.

The rear ends of the compartments 9 are preferably provided with doors 9which are hinged at the bottoms thereof, so that they may be swung down'to permit the articles to be vended to be readily nserted. The casing isprovided with an inclined delivery chute 60, at one side of the e ect1ngposition of the compartments, said chute leading to an opening 1 in theside of the casing.

The operation of the machineflis as follows:

The operator first turns the crank 5 to the position corresponding tothe particular form or 'kind of blade which ,he wishes to secure, andthen inserts the coin, in the present instance a dime, which rolls downthe receiving passage on the plate edge-portion 30, onto the coin tester42, and against the finger 30*. If the coin is of standard Weight, thecoin tester then tilts, and discharges it, so that the coin lodgesagainst the end of the arm 45, as shown in Fig. 7. The handle 29 is thenrotated forwardly, so that the plate 30 is swung forwardly andclownwardly, bringing the finger 30 into engagement with the upper edgeof the coin, which, for the time being, becomes part of the mechanism,so that continued movement of the handle causes the arm 45 to be swungrearwardly until the coin is finally pushed from between the arm 45 andfinger 46, and falls onto the plate 31, where it may later be recovered.-This movement of. arm 45 causes corresponding rotation of the shaft 24,so that the carrier is locked against rota tion by the finger 26, andthe. arms 16 are swung so that the bottom article of the stack, in theparticular compartment which of underweight has been intercepted by thecoin tester 42, it will be discharged into the rejected-coin-passage 33,and fall into the cup 34.

()r, in case a slug is retained by the magnet 47, so that it does notfall into the passage 33, after the coin tester has been moved frombeneath-it, the slug will be engaged by the shoulder 30 and swept intosaid passage, and, at the same time, any foreign matter, WlllCll mayhave' been pushed through the entrance slot,,will be carried down bysaid shoulder portion of the plate 30, so that the com entrance passageis cleared eachtime the machine is operated.

In case; the compartment which is moved 1nto e ecting position is empty,its follower 10 will cause the support 40 to be moved aside, as shown inFig. 13, so as to open communication between the entrance and reectlngpassages, as already described, so that when the coin is inserted, itwill immediately fall down into the cup 34, where it may be recovered.

. which the machine is designed to receive, is

inserted;

We claim 1. A vending-machine having a coin-entrance passage, acoin-rejecting passage and a coin-receiving passage leading therefrom, acoin-tester normally arranged to close communication between saidentrance and said rejecting-passages, and tiltable by the gravity of acoin of predetermined weight to deliver the coin to saidreceiving-passage,

and manually-controlled means to move said coin-tester bodily to oneside of its normal position to open communication between said entranceand rejecting-passages.

2. A vending-machine having a coin-entrance passage, a coin-rejectingpassage and a coin-receiving passage leading therefrom, a coin-testernormally arranged to close comm mication between said entrance and saidrejecting-passages, and tiltable in one direction by the gravity of acoin of predetermined weight, to deliver the coin to saidreceiving-passage, and manually-controlled means for moving saidcoin-tester in a different direction to open communication to saidrejecting passage.

3. A vending-machine having a coin-entrance passage, a coin-rejectingpassage and a coin-receiving passage leading therefrom,

a pivotally supported coin-tester normally arranged to closecommunication between said entrance and rejecting-passages, and adaptedto be tilted by the gravity of a coin of predetermined weight, todeliver the coin to said receiving-passage, -manually-conofpredetermined weight to deliver the coin to said receiving-passage,manuallycontrolled means, and means, operated by mamas said means, onoperative movement thereof, for moving said coin-tester transversely ofthe direction in which it is adapted to tilt, to open communicationbetween said entrance and rejecting-passages.

5. A vending-machine havinga coin-entrance passage, a coin-rejectingpassage, and a coin-receiving passage leading therefrom, a supporthaving a coin-tester pivotally mounted thereon and arranged normally toclose communication between said entrance and said rejecting-passages,and to be tilted by the gravity of a coin of predetermined weight, todeliver the coin to said receiving-passage, and means to move saidsupport to carry said coin-tester bodily to a position in which freecommunication between said entrance and rejecting-passages is permitted.

6. A vending-machine having a coin-entrance passage, a coin-rejectingpassage, and a coin-receiving passage leading therefrom, a coin-testernormally arranged to close communication between said entrance and saidrejecting-passages, and tiltable by the gravity action of a coin ofpredetermined weight to deliver the coin to said receivingpassage,manually-controlled means, and means actuated by said manuallycontrolled means, during the initial portion of its operative movement,to move saidcoin-tester bodily to one side of its normal position, toopen communication between said entrance and r'ej ecting-passages.

7. A vending-machine having a coin-entrance passage, a coin-re ectingpassage, and a coin-receiving passage lead ng, therefrom,

a coin-tester normally arranged to close communlcatlon between saldentrance andpartment adapted to contain a stack of articles to bevended, a follower adapted to rest on the top of such stack andat thebottom of the compartment when empty, coincontrolled apparatus includinga coin-tester arranged to be moved in one direction by the gravity of acoin of predetermined weight, to retain the coin, and to be moved in adilierent direction to reject it, and means arranged to be operated bysaid follower, when at the bottom of its compartment, to hold saidcoin-tester in its coinrejecting position.

9. In a vending machine having a downwardly-extending coin-entrancepassage, a coin-rejecting passage into which said en trance passageleads, and a coin-receiving passage branching therefrom, acoin-deflector normally supported in a position to close communicationbetween said entrance and rejecting passages, a manually-controlledoperating-device, and means, arranged to be actuated by saidoperating-device, when moved from initial position, to move saiddeflector to permit a coin thereon to pass into said coin-rejectingpassage.

10. In a vending machine having a coinentrance passageand acoin-rejecting passage leading therefrom, an operating-handle having aslot-clearing device arranged to be moved through said entrance passage,on operative movement of said handle, to force the contents thereof intosaid coin-rejecting passage.

11. In a vending machine having a downwardly-extending coin-entrancepassage, a coin-rejecting passage into which said entrance passageleads, and a coin-receiving passage branching therefrom, acoin-deflector normally supported in a position to close communicationbetween said entrance and rejecting passages, a manually-controlledoperating-device, means arranged to be carried longitudinally of saidentrance passage, to clear the same, on operative movementof saidoperating-device, to move said deflector to open communication betweensaid entrance and discharge passages.

12. A vending machine having a coinentrance passage, a coin-rejectingpassage to which said entrance passage leads, and a coin-receivingpassage branching therefrom, a coin-tester normally supported to closecommunication between said entrance and rejecting passages and to betilted longitudinally by the weight of the coin, to deliver it to saidreceiving passage, and means to move said coin-tester laterally to opencommunication between said entrance and rejecting passages.

llt

13. A vending-machine having a continu- Y to one side of its normalposition, to permit discharge of the contents of said entrance passageinto said rejecting passage,

14. A vending-machine having a downbodily movable with its support topermit wardly-extending, main coin-passage ara coin, supported thereby,to pass to the ranged to receive a coin at the upper end lower end ofsaid main passage.

and return it at the lower end, and a coin- In testimony whereof, wehave signed our 5 retaining passage branching laterally there-' names tothis specification.

from, and a pivotally-supported coin-testing ARTHUR H. DU GRENIERF platenormally arranged to close said main JAMES H. MOPHERSON.

passage, and to be tilted by the gravity of Witnesses: v

a coin of predetermined weight, to deliver L. H. HARRIMAN,

10 the coin into said retaining-passage, and JAMES T. FITZGERALD.

